One Month to Live

I've just finished a book entitled "One Month to Live" written by Kerry Shook. It encourages readers to ask themselves this question "how can you live daily so that at the end of your life, you will not have any regrets"! It gives great perspective to what matters and what how we act and re-act to life's daily circumstances. It also encourages us to "do what we love doing" now, don't put off your passions to live a boring life. Another encouragement is to "ask for and give forgiveness to people" today, at the end of your life you will not want to wish I would have done this a long time ago. Lastly, it encourages you to "spend time with the people that really matter".

It's not morbid to think about how your life will end, the fact is everyone's life ends, be mature enough to plan for and prepare for the time it does. Make the people you care about aware of your wishes about how to handle end of life issues. Have a will, inform family and your attorney and or accountant where the will will be, make Funeral wishes known, have someone who you trust to handle these details at the appropriate time.

Here's the good news, most of us have much more than 30 days left to live, the challenge is to really live, not just exist. Start living today, not just breathing, really living because one day you really will only have 30 more days to live.

All Things are Possible

We are well into 2012. You have had chances to start the year with momentum and give up because of adversity. Almost everyday we face ups and downs. Ask the Lord to lead you (He does that as you read His Word, as you seek Him in prayer, listen to sermons and worship music); follow His direction and trust His timing. Just because things may not look promising at the moment does not mean that they will remain that way. What did the Lord say would occur during this year? If He said it, don't stop trusting Him because they look impossible; remind yourself how He has turned things around for you in the past. Remember a 90 year old woman got pregnant. The Red Sea split in half so God's children could walk through it on dry ground. Joseph lived in prison for 10 years before being delivered in one moment. David killed a giant with a sling shot. Daniel survived a lions den over night. Jesus turned water into wine, He fed thousands with a few fish and loaves of bread. Remembering those things, keep walking in obedience to God's call on your life and watch as He moves obstacles out of your way so you can follow through on what you committed to accomplish in His Name in 2012. This is going to be a good year for His Kingdom in your life. Believe what He has promised and watch it come to pass!

Glad for new Chances

Intentions are good things, unfortunately they do not accomplish any goals. If you have had good intentions about a particular job to do, habit to change or food group to leave behind that's good BUT I had good intentions of writing more regularly as a way to discipline myself. Writing requires me to sit down, gather my thoughts, put things in coherent sentences and edit what does not fit, then post the results.

I'm just glad we are about to get a whole new year to start over whatever we had good intentions of accomplishing in 2011. I want to challenge all of us to seek God about what He has for us to do in the coming days. I am going to (there are those good intentions again) God willing, begin a sermon series January 15 called "30 Days to Live". It is based on a book written by Pastor Kerry Shook that encourages everyone to make everyday of your life count. If you knew you had only 30 more days to live, would you continue with your present schedule or would you alter it. If you were actually going to die, you would make your relationships more of a priority. I think you would make calls to people who have meant more to you than they know and you would stop worrying about some of the things that keep you awake now.

If you would change things if you "only had 30 days to live" then START DOING THEM NOW BECAUSE NONE OF US KNOW HOW MANY DAYS WE HAVE LEFT TO LIVE!

Life has things we do not plan for, we can only react to. Decide now that you will follow Jesus Christ regardless of how things go in 2012. Read His word daily to grow your faith and trust Him when things do not make sense.

Don't try to keep things in 2012 that were only meant for 2011 and don't fear what God has in store, He promises we have a future filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

Permanent or Temporary

"Christians settle for sedatives to numb the pain, God wants us to pursue treatment to cure the condition." Sun Stand Still (Steven Furtick) I remember when Jared (my son) was about 3 months old, he had an ear infection that would not get cleared up with antibiotics; about mid-night on this particular night he was in so much pain we called his pediatrician. 30 years ago the doctor would say "I'll meet you at my office". After a brief examination the doctor lanced Jared's ear drum. He screamed like crazy; I cried too. It was horrible seeing how badly he hurt. The doctor did something that hurt at the moment but immediately the fluid that had been trapped behind his ear drum began to leak out. He and I were shaken so bad Lydia had to drive home. I could not believe I let the doctor hurt him BUT I KNEW if that fluid did not come out, Jared would not get over his infection. A day or so later his ear was fine and never had another ear problem.

There are times God does a work in us that feels horrible. We question His love and cry about our pain but like the doctor working on Jared, God knows getting the problem fixed requires drastic measures. The doctor could have deadened Jared's ear drum and he may have had temporary relief but when the medicine wore off the intense pain would return. Like the doctor that night, God is doing a work in many of our lives, not because of cruelty but to get us well. Let some time go by without accusing the Lord, you will see that He is getting us well and ready to be used for His glory and trusted with His power to share with the world.

Don't settle for hiding behind your temporary relief when God is working to get you permanently healed, after all, "His ways are better than our ways"!

Sun Stopping Prayer

How is your prayer life? Are your prayer times the richest part of your day or is it a chore you avoid until you have no more excuses and then you can't wait until they are over? In Joshua's life, he faced disappointment, setback, delays and instructions from the Lord that no one had ever heard of. It's easy to go to Joshua chapter 10 and read about his powerful prayer and we all want to be able to pray Sun Stop Moving Prayer but God only trusts that kind of power to those who have proven that honoring the Lord and obeying Him are not debatable choices but opportunities to show our trust in God regardless of His instruction.

Joshua's prayer was answered after marching all night long and began fighting and continued fighting for 36 hours. Quit expecting to walk out of troubles forever. Make sure you are keeping the Lord first in your life. Just because He has been there in the past does not mean He will be there today, you must continually put Him there. Kind of like wearing a retainer for those who have had braces on their teeth; if you don't constantly wear a retainer your teeth revert back to their old positions. Our prayer lives can be the richest parts of our lives but they can also be a challenge to "keep up" when things don't seem to be going like we want them to. The same God who stopped the sun for 24 hours is listening for your requests and looking to see if your obedience matches your desire for things to change.

I love the quote "He who God uses greatly will be tested powerfully"! Don't let tests cause you to doubt God's goodness of favor on you, in fact if you are in a serious battle you re probably right where He wants you to be -- let His light shine through and make sure He gets the praise!

Don't Quit

Everyone faces touch situations somewhere at some time. No avoiding that fact but we can prepare for these tough events and decide before they get here that we are going to get through them, they will not stop us. They may delay our arrival but they will not keep us from reaching the God designed destination. The question is how do we prepare.

First, know who will get you through the tough times. If you rely on anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ and the guidance of His Holy Spirit you will delay your arrival even longer.

Next keep God's Word exalted above all circumstances. What God says will never change, circumstances do. Get advice from people who have walked the path before you. Usually advice requires us changing something which brings resistance but don't be afraid of change. Everybody and everything changes. We can't stop it and complaining (even if it's just rehearsing it in our minds) causes frustration to grow; when that happens it brings more difficultly in relationships that can help you get through the struggle. The enemy we face and who constantly works to kill, steal and destroy us is relentless so prepare for long term to battle him with weapons that are not earthly but divinely powerful for tearing him down.

One more thing although I could keep going with ideas is don't give up. We do not know all that God knows. We see through a dark glass, He sees things exactly like they are -- trust Him. I love the saying, "When you cannot see God's hand, you can trust His heart". He is for you and He will never leave or abandon you, so hold on, remember change is on it's way!!!

God's DNA

We all have God given talents. Everyone has them, Christians and non-Christians. God made us unique and gets joy when we use our gifts for His glory. Many struggle with accepting their gifts because they like the gift someone else has and try to be like them. People spend their whole lives "acting" like someone they were never created to be. One of parents highest responsibilities is to seek God about their children's gifts; once they discover what they are the parent should constantly point the children towards their gifts; NOT the gifts the parents want them to have but the gifts God has given them. Because we all have God given gifts we know the devil will try to pervert, steal and destroy these gifts. It requires constant effort to use these gifts and if God is going to get the glory from our use of gifts, it must not be our talent or skill alone that empowers us. A tendency that can creep in is to become prideful about gifts especially the ones that are used in public platforms. Parents need to stay watchful as their children get comfortable with what God has given them by instructing them early on in their gift discovery and function. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, when he gets older he will not depart from it." Training is likened to training a horse to be used in handling cattle. It implies practice, patience, correction, encouragement and perseverance.

Ask someone if they can identify your gifts, then ask them if they think you are using them to their highest potential. If they say you are not using them to that potential ask them to help you increase that use until it is obvious that what God invested in you is not being wasted. We are all created with gifts from God, use them to glorify Him, after all He gave them to you!